Christmas Canis
by Loki Milano
Summary: A belated Christmas story. A teenage girl preparing for Christmas has to worry about more things than she bargained for when she gains a red-shoed stalker.


Christmas Canis

When l was fifteen, I met a very unusual man. It was three days before Christmas when I first saw him. I was struggling home with my shopping and as usual it was raining, we never got snow in Synmouth, simply because we were by the sea. Anyway, binning my useless umbrella I managed to whack a passerby with the comer of my sister Alex's DVD. I mumbled an embarrassed apology and was about to walk away when I saw him giving me the funniest look. I thought he was about to be sick or something and asked him if he was alright. He assured me that he was fine, just thinking, but as I walked away I could feel his eyes boring in to me. It was kind of creepy.

My mother noticed that something was wrong when she caught me staring out of the window for about the billionth time. I remember making up a lame excuse about hearing a busker playing my favourite song or something and it being stuck in my head. She seemed happy enough with that explanation and said no more about it.

The second times saw him was the day after, whilst I was at work. I did some waiting for my uncle's cafe to earn some money for presents every year. I saw the long brown coat first, then the bright red Converse. I'm not sure what look he was going for exactly, but it was peculiar. All he ordered was a coffee with lots of milk, then he sat there drinking it for nearly three hours, until the after work rush scared him off. Uncle Joe asked if he was a friend of mine because he asked about me in my break. I was worried now. He knew my name, had I gained a stalker?

I stayed awake panicking all night. What did he want? Could I expect to be kidnapped outside my front door? I wished my godmother was here already instead of coming in the afternoon, she would soon see him off. I tried every excuse I could think of to avoid picking up some last minute groceries for my mother by myself, but she was having none of it, so off I went in the next morning. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting him to turn up any minute, but he never showed. Cutting through the park, I was struck by the silence lingering in the frozen air. Normally I liked the peace, but this time it gave me a really bad feeling.

Prematurely, the hairs went up on the back of my neck. A split second later there was a growl behind me that set my teeth on edge. Terrified I peered round, and almost had a heart attack. Edging forward was a dog, only it had a lizard's tail, and scales. I screamed blue murder, for lack of any other sense of what to do. In a single bound it was flying through the air straight toward me.

I closed my eyes as I was knocked to the ground, only the weight on my legs wasn't cold and scaly, it was warm and velvety. Cautiously I opened my eyes and was met by a blinding blue flash. I was struggling to comprehend what was happening as I found myself in complete quiet, staring up at a steel grey sky. But wait, it wasn't completely noiseless, something was breathing next to me. Sitting up I recalled the pressure on my knees and shins. As I looked down I came face to face with my red shoed stalker. He had saved me from the lizard dog now lying dead on the ground across the way, at the expense of a nasty gash on his back.

He was obviously in pain and I felt terrible for that, gently separating him from my limbs, I helped him sit up and he winced, grabbing hold of my arm.

"Are you alright?" we chorused, and then both laughed awkwardly.

Now I could see him better, he didn't look as scary. In fact, he was quite attractive, if a little old for me, with gravity defying brown hair and the darkest brown eyes I'd ever seen. There was something strange in them, something that didn't quite match up with the rest of his bean pole like stature and cheeky demeanour, something almost lost, lost and sad, with something else I couldn't work out too.

"Thanks for saving me, from whatever that was," I ventured,

"You're welc---ow!" he winced again as he sat upright. He swung his coat round slightly to check out the damage, "Oh, well, that's not good,"

I manoeuvred myself behind him to get a good look at his wound, the St John Ambulance training in me kicking in. I frowned, it wasn't quite a burn or a gash, it was almost both, like...

"Acid," he finished my thought, "That thing's a Canis, their saliva is made from sulphuric acid,"

"Wow, science experiment gone wrong?" I asked dumbly,

"You could say that," his voice had an unpleasant tone to it; I knew it wasn't directed at me though.

"Either way, we'll need to get that sorted out before it gets infected. Can you stand?" I queried, "Walk?"

"Um, I'm not entirely sure," he admitted,

"I'll help you, come on, on three, one, two..."

On three the pair of us hoiked him up, and he made some very colourful remarks to say the least, he was in so much pain he leaned most of his weight on me and I almost toppled over. I'm still not entirely sure how, but I managed to juggle him and my groceries as we took the short cut back to my house. The nearest doctor was quite a trek, to the other side of town and I don't think he could have put up with much more. Luckily my mum was doing her WRVS (that is, Women's Royal Voluntary Service) duties at the hospital, dad was at work, and my sister was at a friend's.

I had pretty much forgotten the fact that I was attacked by something straight from Mary Shelley's imagination as I was more concerned about my patient, I didn't know then, but later on he told me he admired my calmness and matter-of-fact approach to the whole thing,

"So, what's your name then?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm the Doctor," he offered a hand and shook mine quite firmly,

"Doctor...?" I urged him to finish,

"Just the Doctor," he smiled. I handed him a glass of water and he downed it in one, "Thanks Genie, I needed that,"

I bristled as he let me take off his coat so I could clean up his injury, "How do you know my name? You've been following me for a couple of days now."

I think he sensed the sudden stiffness in my arms and shoulders as I put his coat on the side, a pinstriped suit? His taste really was strange, "I know I have. Sorry I didn't introduce myself sooner; if I had it would have tipped off the Canis."

"Why is that a bad thing? Animal rights activists after your blood or something? Mad scientists peeved that you've been baiting their pets?"

I know my attitude was uncalled for, but it was just me, he seemed to understand that, he always said that I reminded him of a friend of his, and then thanked me for my concern about a million times. He was silent for a long time as he lifted his shirt so I could get at his burn, occasionally squirming at the coldness. He was like a child; it was hard to stay angry at him.

"What do you know about aliens Genie?"

"Conspiracy theories," I answered point blank.

He chuckled at me, "You sound like my friend. But that's exactly why I've been watching you, if you don't believe in them, you can't see them coming."

I smiled, "You sound like _my_ friend. Drives his family crazy with talk of space and aliens," I smiled at the memory of last Christmas, "Although you can't really blame him, there is some strange stuff going on nowadays,"

"Yet you still remain sceptical?"

"Yes, I do. I mean, it's not logical. Well, to a degree it is, we're one planet in one solar system in one galaxy and we live and breathe, there's a million or more other galaxies and solar systems and planets, so it's feasible there's more than us out there, but think about it, it's too planned, too concentrated to be genuine, you have to be smart about things like that, not just take everything at face value."

He actually seemed interested, "What do you mean?"

"Well, take Christmas. Apart from last year, the three before that, London got completely over run by those Sycorax things, then there was that weird star thing, then the Titanic, I mean, come on. It's either to get more money out of people by hyping everything up or a really deranged scare tactic. Heck, when that thing jumped me, I thought I was finally facing the music for breaking my sister's favourite mug and not owning up."

He outright laughed at that one, only to double up again, although he quite clearly tried to hide it from me. Again I asked him why the Canis jumped out at me, "An independent mind, it can be your best friend, or your worst nightmare, the Canis track down the strongest, monitoring for months at a time, recruiting for their army,"

"Army?! I'm not a soldier!" I protested, no way would I do a thing like that,

"Then they dispose of lost causes, people too morally good or just to join them,"

"Oh." I was speechless, "Oh."

I suppose it was like a compliment, if a backhanded one. You're a decent human being, so we'll kill you. This Doctor seemed to read my mind, or simply my face, considering I was off in my thoughts again, being a decent person got you killed? What kind of world was that? He assured me that was exactly what he thought, and he wanted to get things back on track.

"I guess there is more than one of those things around here then?" I realised, thinking of just how many strong independent minds I knew.

The Doctor nodded solemnly, "They've been watching Earth for a while now. Around this time they realised was when people let down their guards, were more open to suggestions, or more easily convinced of something, because they don't want to ruin Christmas. Basically, people now are at their most morally just. Only truly unpleasant individuals would stay the same as any other time, the rest of them could be disposed of, because they weren't reliable sources."

"So why come to me first if there's so many out there?" I challenged him. It wasn't that wasn't grateful, but surely he was wasting time with me.

"Well, I actually hoped you could help me," he admitted, "Everywhere I've been tracking this, you seemed to be there, I've learned that coincidences should be paid attention to in my time,"

"Really, me?" I was speechless, I always took coincidences as just that, coincidences, "Well, we better get to work then,"

His face lit up then, he looked like a little boy on Christmas morning. In a flash he had grabbed my hand, forgetting all about his injury. I barely had time to grab my coat and scarf as we rushed out of the door to who knows where. It was weird, he seemed to completely forget about his back and we were running, just running, I have no idea where to. I skidded across a patch of ice and ended up surfing my way straight in to a blue wooden box. Not gently.

"Who put that there?" I grumbled as I rubbed my shoulder where I'd hit it.

"That would be me, sorry."

The Doctor grinned at me sheepishly, then whipped out a key and walked over to the box. I pointed out to him that these police boxes went out of action fifty years ago; he mumbled something about needing repairs and chameleons. To be honest I was more concerned about the pink mark that was throbbing on my elbow. I was barely paying attention as I followed him in to that little blue box. In fact, I hardly noticed it was the little blue box we were going in to. Until it wasn't a little blue box any more. Looking back, I'm amazed I wasn't more startled, but at that point I think I would have taken anything in my stride, after being attacked by an alien.

"So...what's this then?"

It was amazing. I can still picture it now, warm and gold, with funny little circles everywhere. The floor was metal, I could look down in to the mechanics, and the engine gave off a soothing little hum and whirr, lighting up brighter as soon as the Doctor went nearer to it. It was like it was alive. He pressed a button on a keyboard or something and tiny little specks of dust floated down, immediately for his back and my arm. Within a second I could stop inspecting myself for bruises, the pain was completely gone.

"They were nanogenes. Tiny robots that repair tissue, nerves, flesh and the like," the Doctor was quite happy to explain the intimate details of the little machines, I just smiled and nodded along, he paused after a minute and looked at me, "You already know all this, don't you?"

I smiled and nodded, "It's logical. Nanobots have been in development for a long time now, some countries already use them for procedures, and your technology is just very advanced. However, I repeat, what's this then?"

"Oh! This, this you probably can't analyse," the Doctor looked delighted as he started walking around, admiring the machine, "This is a TARDIS. That is Time and Relative Dimension in Space, travels through space and time."

"I got that from the name," I laughed, "So what are you?"

"I'm a Time Lord," he answered, none-too-happily, "But enough of that. We have some Canis to find,"

That was all he told me. I learned more later on, basically because I pestered him every year until I got the story. He asked me where we were likely to find people that might be tracked; my first thought was Saint Augustus', the rehabilitation centre for young offenders. That was the one thing that people in Synmouth didn't like to talk about. I know it shouldn't, but it even made me nervous walking passed it. It was ridiculous really, they were my age a lot of them, and if they were safe enough to be rehabilitated, why was I so worried. The Doctor seemed to read my mind and he gave me the strangest look as we clambered up the hillside trek towards the centre.

"You're a smart girl Genie, don't let me down now," he said sternly.

"I know, but..." I didn't want to admit I was scared.

The Doctor's gaze softened, he took my hand, and helped me over a large boulder on the hill side. I felt so...safe...with him. Like nothing could happen to me because he wouldn't let it. He had this weird protectiveness about him, as if he was carrying the world on his shoulders and was afraid of dropping it. The two of us walked on in silence, although my head was whirling, how were we going to get in for a start? It wasn't as if we could go up and say excuse me, mind if we go through your secure unit to check for aliens?

Saint Augustus' was a huge limestone building that had once been a country house and was now modernised, the courtyard we walked into was sandy soil, with a fountain shooting clear water up to the sky. I was surprised it hadn't frozen over as I watched our breath curl through the air whilst we headed for the front door. As soon as we walked in the receptionist perked up, I didn't like the feel of the place, it was cold, empty and heavy. The floors were worn and grimy marble and there was a chill breeze coming from a window that didn't quite close properly. The receptionist was a woman, thirty or so, with red hair and blue eyes, tall and slim.

"Can I help you?" she asked with a deadpan tone,

The Doctor flipped out his wallet and I raised an eyebrow, was he going to pay her off? But no, he flashed it in her face, ID? I peered at it as it moved; it was a blank piece of paper, "Hello there. I'm John Smith, social worker, this is Genie, my..." he stopped for a minute,

"...Personal Assistant," I supplied for him.

"Yes, that's it," he shot me a wink to say thank you,

The woman looked up something on the computer, "Oh, you're early, sorry."

After some questions and signings and security precautions, we were allowed to wander around the centre at our leisure. As leisurely as hunting for acidic beasts with one hundred pairs of hostile eyes on us could be at least. I was so nervous I kept standing on the Doctor's feet because I was so close. We went round back to the gardens, and then saw what we were looking for. By a goal post, a young man, maybe a couple of years older than me was facing up against a lizard dog with acidic saliva. He was armed with a hockey stick. Every time the Canis swung at him he hit back with surprisingly good reflexes,

"Genie, wait here," instructed the Doctor,

I was about to protest, but he had already gone running over to help. He whipped something out of his pocket; I think it was a pen. It lit up and buzzed and the Canis fell away whimpering, before it disintegrated. I couldn't watch and turned away. It was silent until I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around. The Doctor looked different, almost embarrassed, and that boy was standing next to him but apart. He had closely cropped light brown hair and intense grey eyes, which had a hint of the Doctor's about them. His navy vest was creased and dirty and his cargos had the odd hole and worn patch in them.

"Genie, this is Jed," the Doctor had a different tone too and kept touching his ear, so I knew he was nervous, "He's going to help us as well,"

"What the hell was that thing?" exclaimed Jed, "I was just walking and it jumped me!"

He sounded Irish and angry and I jumped. He looked at me like I was an alien myself and was about to make some kind of comment, until we heard a commotion round the side of St Augustus'. Without blinking the three of us ran in the direction of trouble. There was a group of half a dozen or so young men surrounded by more Canis and it wasn't looking good. I automatically ran forward to try and help but the Doctor grabbed my arm and pushed me towards Jed,

"Jed, watch this one, I don't want to get her hurt," he instructed,

"But you can't dissolve them like you did the other one!" I protested, "That was...that was awful!"

"You don't know these things like I do Eugenie, they're whole blood system is acid, they kill off good people to build up their army, they have always done it and always will,"

"But...that's just their nature..." I couldn't believe I was standing up for these things, especially after one attacked me, but I couldn't stand seeing all of them dissolved in front of my eyes, "Can't you just...send them back to their planet?"

Jed looked at me incredulously, "You're talking like this is normal. Forget that, you're talking as if aliens exist."

"Enough of the chit chat," interrupted the Doctor, "We have work to do,"

He hadn't listened to a word I said, already readying his pen. Whatever he was doing with it I wasn't sure but it didn't seem pleasant. Realising our presence now, both the Canis and their hostages were staring at us. The yellow slit eyes were unnerving me more than anything, that and the fact that I had seen two of them die in front of me. I turned away again as I heard the familiar buzz and whirr, kicking myself for not being able or brave enough to do something. I was preparing myself for a horrible shriek, but all I got was silence. Jed grabbed my shoulders and turned me around, and I saw the Doctor holding up his pen. Instead of writhing, the Canis were just barking angrily and jumping for us, only to be cut off by a glowing blue fence.

"I guess he did hear you," Jed whispered in my ear, which is when I realised I was grabbing his arm, and quickly pulled away.

"Listen up Canis," the Doctor said forcefully as their victims scrambled out of the way, "Leave these people alone and I'll let you go home."

There was a lot of hissing and angry snaps that I couldn't understand, until the Doctor knocked his head, "Screw loose?" I whispered to Jed, who gave the slightest smile,

I jumped again about a mile as a flood of voices rushed into my head, immediately giving me a splitting headache and I covered my ears, "What the heck?" I whimpered, then realised the voices were making a conversation. I stared at my new acquaintance who was clearly experiencing the same oddness as me.

"Why would we listen to you? What can you do to us?" it was one of the Canis speaking, "For every two you kill, two hundred will be found, this planet is so rich with potential. Can you blame us for picking it?"

"What's going on?" Jed asked me.

Later on when he told me his story, he explained how hard it had been for him to even talk to me, let alone ask for an explanation. He had run away from an abusive family and looked after himself and nobody else. He started up a nice little burglary business to send enough money to his sister for her to move out, only he had been caught. He had always liked to be right and was furious at the Doctor for fighting off the creatures instead of leaving him to it. But he wasn't stupid, he knew not to interrupt, which was why he was talking to me.

"I'm telling you, you need to leave," I didn't like the tone in the Doctor's voice. "These people are not for you to judge,"

"And they are for you to judge?" challenged the opposition, "You can't say that you don't make assumptions and pass down sentences even more often than we do. This is our life, this is how we survive and prosper, what right do you have to take that away?"

"No right. Just a duty. Leave this planet alone, this is your last chance,"

The Canis started hissing and made a strange choking sound in their throats, they were laughing. The Doctor raised his hand to them. It was like I wasn't in my own body. I leapt away from Jed and tackled the Doctor to the ground, getting an elbow in the collar bone for my troubles.

"What are you doing?!" the Doctor was angry, "You're meant to be helping me!"

"I am. I'm not about to be a murderer's accomplice," I snatched his pen, which turned out to be a screwdriver, strangely, from him, "And you're not about to be a murderer."

The Canis were silent, staring at me with what I saw as contempt and Jed saw as respect, the Doctor sat astounded on the ground as I picked myself up, clutching that little glowing screwdriver. I turned to the Canis and they actually stayed quiet, letting me speak,

"You appear to be soldiers. You might not have humanity and you may see emotions as a weakness to be eradicated, but this is not your ground. If you're any kind of warriors, I'm sure me saving your lives merits you sparing the lives of people here. In fact I'll make an educated guess and say you owe me your lives as a matter of honour." They didn't argue, I knew I had them, "So go home, and don't come back. Because if you do, I'll be waiting and I have a very good memory."

With proud silence, one by one the Canis dispersed in bright green flashes, leaving the three of us in ice cold silence. I stood there for a few minutes, my hands cold and my feet numb, with Jed shivering a little back from me. As the Doctor got up, I threw him what I now know to be his sonic screwdriver and he caught it without a word. He took off his coat and passed it to Jed who for once didn't throw charity back in his face.

The Doctor walked off and I realised it was snowing, bit fat flakes, settling on the ground and soaking me and Jed. Neither of us knew what to do, the leader of our mix and match group seemed to be sulking and we weren't even sure if we'd cleared all the Canis out or just Synmouth's lot.

"They're gone," called the Doctor over his shoulder,

"So...when do you get out of here?" I asked Jed as we slushed through what was becoming a snow storm.

He looked at me strangely, "Whenever I find a place," he shrugged nonchalantly,

"Come on,"

We arranged the right papers for him to come back to mine for Christmas, but I wasn't about to stop there. I ran up to the Doctor and cut him off, "Sorry I rugby tackled you,"

"Thank you for it," he replied.

I hugged him as best I could, he was about a food taller than me, "I can't face mum's cooking tomorrow alone. You're coming with us and warming up. We have another spare room, if you don 't mind sharing with an ex-con," I smirked at Jed.

"Oh, but I can't..."

He realised that he wasn't going to win an argument against me, never has since. So later that night when we were tucking into salmon sandwiches, my mum, dad, sister, brother and sister in law were joined by a Mr John Smith and Jed Ardal, they didn't care about explanations, they were just friends of mine and it was Christmas. My godmother and company turned up five hours later, due to ice on the roads. As I was pouring the tea, a phenomenal voice that I knew very well echoed through the house,

"Bloody hell! It's like being in a snowglobe out there! I hope Miss Eugenie is putting the kettle on," I grinned, my godmother was like my crazy, fun, older sister slash aunt.

"Way ahead of you!" I called in reply.

She appeared at the door and I suppressed a high pitched squeal as I ran over to hug her, she was always the same quirky individual that I didn't think adults could still be. She reminded me of the Doctor, her mother and granddad were joining us too, it was going to be a crowded Christmas,

"You will not believe the week I've had Aunt Donna," I wanted to tell her everything.

I noticed the funny looks Nana Noble and Wilf gave my slightly sheepish looking new friend when they saw him, and found out about it later. The Doctor told me the most amazing stories. The family likes to hear them from me still. The Doctor gave me so much.

I married that teenage burglar, we celebrated our Golden Anniversary in the summer. Now on my 70th Christmas in the all too crowded house that I love, I'm hanging up another of the cards I get every year that have a very special place on the string:

_To Genie,_

_Merry Christmas and see you Next Year,_

_John _


End file.
